How viable are tanks alone?

[Magos_Adephus]

Greetings from the AdMech forums.

 

Question in title, is the idea viable? Been messing around on Battlescribe, for about 2000 point I can can two Spearheads with three Russes and a Tank Commander each, and a Super-Heavy Auxillary w/ a Baneblade chassis of some sort. Problem is, my Adeptus of choice only supplies the tanks, you all make use of them, so my tactical knowledge is quite lacking.

 

So, what combination of 8 Russes and a Baneblade chassis would you all suggest makes a solid list?

[WarriorFish]

Tanks are good, but are a bit of a glass hammer in that when the enemy closes options start running out. That's why some escorting infantry goes a long way, cheap and not bad at killing infantry they help keep you tanking as well as grabbing objectives. That doesn't mean it's impossible though - just harder. With some Stratagem use you can improve over watch to a 5+ and clever use of Hellhounds can flush out such assault attempts and act as pickets. Plus of course there's good target selection which along with suitable fire power (which tanks can muster) blasting units off the board keeps them away too

 

It's a bit more work in 8th with the ability for many units to arrive and charge on turn 1, so it's probably more win or lose big than ever before - but what victories they will be

[Harrowmaster]

While the russ do get objective secured they can easily be overwhelmed and locked in combat. An all tank army is going to be difficult to keep alive without bubblewrap

[Frater Cornelius]

You'd be at a disadvantage against bumrush melee lists like Alpha Legion Berserkers, Gene Stealers and similar. I suppose cheap flamer tanks could act as roadblocks. Not sure whether there are any though. Cheap ones, that is.

[sairence]

You'd be at a disadvantage against bumrush melee lists like Alpha Legion Berserkers, Gene Stealers and similar. I suppose cheap flamer tanks could act as roadblocks. Not sure whether there are any though. Cheap ones, that is.

A regular Hellhound with no upgrades is 101 points, the Artemia version 81. Artemia is even more juicy for this, because it blows up on a 4+ for D6 mortal wounds. Usually, once an opponent knows that they want to avoid charging them. Which is great for your screen.

[Mikhail the Valhallan]

I'd also like to add, for some of your more up front leman russes', triple heavy flamer hull weapons while expensive are good at making most rethink a charge

[Furio Reyka]

I'd also like to add, for some of your more up front leman russes', triple heavy flamer hull weapons while expensive are good at making most recent think a charge

 

This.

 

Take triple heavy flamers and track guards on a few of your russes and keep the pressure on with them while others sit back with punisher commanders and double tap.

 

Standard battle cannons on russes and punishers on commanders gets stuff done.

 

You should look at a shadowsword with 4 twin heavy flamers.

[Mikhail the Valhallan]

If you get a game in with tanks alone I would be interested to see how it goes too, I'm looking at building a tank only list with minimal Scion support

[Tokugawa]

3 HF cost what, 51pts?

 

And you won't want that LR rush forward aggressively, like a Hellhound.

 

You would want the turret fire twice.

 

So a huge points waste.

 

If you like having some flamer weapons to threat charging enemies, why not to bring some real Hellhounds?

[Colonel Cross]

Yes HFs are mad expensive but my Catachan punisher fireball has actually done serious serious work.  It's mostly psychological, but it does allow me to protect my infantry, chimeras, Conquer, and hellhound that all go up the board together.  It's about how it's used, you can't look at it in a vacuum. At the end of the day, it's just really fun haha. 

[Shamansky]

In my very first game in 8th i used all tanks list. I had about 6 or 7 LRs of different types i also used 2 Wyverns and a Manticore. The enemy was tau, a guy with who nobody wanted to play because he was winning upto 90% of his games with his FW battlesuits and hordes of drones. But i was not about win, i was crash-testing, and no crash tests are made against a pile of pillows, they use a concrete wall usually. We had only indexes that time which means no double shooting Lemans, no doctrines and no stratagems. It was mainly a firefight of course, but some of his tounge-breaking-named walkers made it into CC. And as a result it was a draw (almost my win). He was not really ready to meet lots of high toughnes instead of hordes. So I think it really depends on what opponent you've got.

[WarriorFish]

I agree that for flames a Leman Russ is too expensive - Hellhounds are far superior :)

 

In Shamansky's case don't forget that Russes in the Index were kind of rubbish so a full codex version would be much better ;) Like many things playing the meta itself is viable, so in the age of the horde that may be another string to the armoured bow :)

[Magos_Adephus]

Thx for the replies and ideas everyone

 

The army is a longer term project for me, got some other things I wanna do first, mostly expand my Orks when the Codex drops (whenever that’ll be..). I’ve been wanting a Baneblade for years now and I’ve been considering getting one as my interim-Orks project.

 

I’m deeply in love with the Hellhammer with max FLAME, flanked by some Hellhounds, with Russes hold the back line. The Fire and Brimstone Formation I call it

[zero88]

Besides the case made for bubble wrap, an Armored Company really needs two psykers for buffing. A 2+ save on your big tank gives you a decent save against the million Lascannons that will target it, and combining strike and shroud with nightshroud makes a Leman Russ extremely durable for a turn. If you want to get a little cheeky take an Atlas Forgeworld tank.. with a techpriest you can repair 2D3 wounds a turn on a tank

[tychobi]

All tank armies are very viable. Hellhound/cyclops work great as a screen for leman russ and basilisk lines. Add superheavies/sentinel loaders for counterpunch. Wont win every game but many armies will wither and die under the heavy guns of the tanks. Good times